2005 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley F. Bergstein, Editor April 5, 2005GEORGIAN DOWNS SOLDGreat Canadian Gaming corporation, which recentlypurchased Hastings Park, Fraser Downsand Sandown Park in British Columbia, has returnedto the marketplace and is acquiring GeorgianDowns in Ontario for C$25 million, plus assumptionof shareholder loans and other indebtednessof some C$23 million. Georgian Downs isa harness operation in Innisfil, Ontario, some 45miles north of Toronto, and has approximatelyC$34 million in total assets including buildings,land and undeveloped property. It also has slotmachines, and Great Canadian Gaming’s presidentand CEO, Anthony Martin, called it a “totalentertainment package.” Georgian Downs isnew, having been built in 2000 and opening ayear later, and races two days a week, 12 monthsa year.In other Canadian racing business news, theOntario Racing Commission ruled that HTAmember Windsor Raceway cannot arbitrarilymove its premier stakes event, the $450,000 ProvincialCup, from spring to fall. Windsor hadhoped to race the event late in its meeting, butthe commission, taking into consideration thatentries had been taken and payments made byowners and trainers, said the race would have tobe raced as originally scheduled on Sunday, May29, with eliminations, if needed, on Sunday, May22.In Aurora, Ontario, the board of FrankStronach’s MI Developments urged shareholdersto reject a proposal to convert it into a realestate trust and dump its interest in Magna EntertainmentCorporation, its racing arm. Theboard, in recommending rejection of a plan submittedby its second largest shareholder,Greenlight Capital LLC, raised its dividend 67%to fend off critics. The payout, an increaseof 60 cents a share, will cost $28.6million a quarter.THE GUY SIMPLY WON’T QUITCornelius Murray, the lawyer who brought thesuit that resulted in portions of New York state’sVLT law being ruled unconstitutional, is at itagain. He now is urging attorney general EliotSpitzer to shut down the flourishing and hugelyprofitable Turning Stone Casino, near VernonDowns. Murray contends Turning Stone has beenoperating illegally for 12 years, and in a letter toSpitzer he wrote, “Your office has earned a justifiablereputation as a vigorous prosecutor andenforcer of violations...including Internet gambling.I would now expect that you would bringthe same enthusiasm and vigor to bear in thiscase.” Murray’s letter followed by just two daysthe United States Supreme Court decision thatonly 32 acres were actually Oneida’s sovereignterritory, and that 17,000 other acres of the tribe’sproperty in central New York is taxable. Murraywrote Spitzer that “the property is...the sovereignsoil of the state of New York and activitiesthereon are subject to the laws of the state of NewYork.” An Oneida spokesman said the court rulingis about property taxes, not gambling.Murray won a court ruling last year that saidthe Oneida gambling compact issued by formergovernor Mario Cuomo was invalid. That decisionis under appeal.MEADOWS GETS SURROUNDEDThe Meadows, HTA’s longtime member in westernPennsylvania southwest of Pittsburgh, hassince it was built commanded an impressive sitejust off Interstate 79. It now appears it will loseits exclusivity, if plans for a huge, 122-acre factoryoutlet mall and 210-acre Bass Pro Shopsstore, restaurants and hotel materialize. The explosionof long-predicted development near thetrack and its adjoining motel has delighted someWashington county residents and appalled others,who fear overcrowded roads andstrained public services.